If you want an indication of which financial institutions might be keen to hire you in Hong Kong, you might want to consider how much newly-rented office space they have to house potential expansions.

The Wall Street Journal has identified five banks that have recently signed new leases in the Central district of Hong Kong. They’re all second-tier Chinese firms – following in the footsteps of their larger mainland counterparts who took premium office space in Central in the early 2000s.

Bank of Shanghai has leased a whole floor at Citibank Plaza, says the WSJ report, quoting services firm CBRE Hong Kong. Beijing-based China Minsheng Bank also now has a floor of its own – in the prestigious Two IFC building, according to real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle. Meanwhile, Xiamen International Bank has expanded its office and both China Bohai Bank and Bank of Dongguan have opened up representative offices, according to Paul Louie, a Barclays property analyst.

Should you be sending your CV to these firms? If you want to get in early on an expansion, then yes. All five banks are bound to grow their headcounts in Hong Kong as they try to use the city as a base to get more international business from Chinese companies expanding abroad and foreign businesses investing in China. And there are other, softer reasons for joining a Chinese bank in Hong Kong. As we noted last month, they typically offer better work-life balance and job security than Western players.

But second-tier Chinese banks remain uncompetitive when it comes to compensation and larger mainland firms are also expected to be recruiting in the coming months – CICC chief among them following its listing in Hong Kong last week.

Meanwhile:

Now a deputy head of China’s securities regulator is caught in the country’s latest corruption clampdown. (Reuters)